More vehicles traveling at higher speeds are using the high-occupancy vehicle lanes on the 110 Freeway since they were converted to ExpressLanes, while speeds on the other lanes largely remained constant, according to a six-month evaluation of the project by the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

Workweek trips are averaging 57,256 per day on the ExpressLanes compared with the average of 50,000 trips before the 11 miles of ExpressLanes were installed between the 91 Freeway and Adams Boulevard, the Metro report said. The average ExpressLanes speed on the Harbor Freeway was 65 mph during the peak morning commute, from 5-9 a.m.

Meanwhile, the average speed for the rest of the freeway lanes during the peak morning commute was 48.3 mph, largely unchanged from the average speed of 48.4 mph before the Nov. 10 opening of the experimental ExpressLanes.

“If they have achieved their goal of increasing the speed of the toll lane and not changing the speed of the mixed slow lane I would deem that a success,” said Steve Lantz, a transportation consultant with the South Bay Cities Council of Governments who formerly worked for Metro. “It’s not a failure.”

Unlike the former car-pool lanes, ExpressLanes allow solo drivers to use them for a fee per mile based on freeway congestion.

And that has been the key to increasing the capacity of those lanes since their $210.6 million transformation as part of a federally funded, year-long congestion reduction pilot project, Metro officials said.

The former car-pool lanes, which opened in 1995, experienced the heaviest use during the morning commute. But the rest of the day had unused capacity, while the transit service on what was officially known as the Harbor Transitway had low ridership.

“Solo drivers never had the opportunity to use HOV lanes,” Metro spokesman Rick Jager said. “Now anybody can use them.”

But that comes with a price, although car-pools trips with two or more drivers remain free if the vehicle is equipped with the required transponder.

The average price for the trip was $5.35, although the cost during the peak morning commute was considerably higher — about $10. However, a majority of trips cost less than $3 in either direction. About 41 percent of motorists drive solo and pay the fee, while the remainder are car-poolers.

But commuters seem willing to pay those prices as long as traffic flows freely on the ExpressLanes. Previously, the car-pool lanes would grind to a halt with little notice, especially during rush hour.

Travel speeds have actually exceeded the goal of an average 45 mph speed 90 percent of the time during peak periods.

“In the morning peak travel period (6-9 a.m.), average speeds in the 110 ExpressLanes increased by over 5 mph with the implementation of ExpressLanes,” Metro quoted an independent Cornell University study as concluding in the report. “There is no statistically meaningful variation in average speeds along the conventional mainline lanes.”

Bus riders and van pools have embraced the ExpressLanes, too.

Ridership on the Metro Silver Line has increased 5 percent, a figure that closely tracks the 4 percent improvement in on-time transit performance. In addition, 18 new van pools have formed.

Metro cautioned that the data is preliminary and subject to change ahead of an independent evaluation scheduled for release in mid-2014.

Other findings of the report include:

The worst hour for ExpressLanes travel is 7-8 a.m., while the most congested segment is between Slauson Avenue and 39th Street.

As of April, a total of 6,873 transponders had been issued to residents of Torrance, the most of any South Bay city. Figures for other local communities include Redondo Beach (4,331), Manhattan Beach (3,668), Rancho Palos Verdes (2,501), San Pedro (2,364) and Gardena (2,278).

About 22 percent of all ExpressLane citations issued were for toll evasion.

Nick Green is the longtime soccer columnist for the Southern California Newspaper Group and covers Torrance, Lomita and the craft beer industry for the Daily Breeze. He also blogs about soccer at www.insidesocal.com/soccer, the local craft beer scene at www.insidesocal.com/beer and the South Bay at blogs.dailybreeze.com/southbay/. The native of England lives in Old Torrance with his wife and two cats.

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